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Topic: Mac & cheese how? (Read 11387 times)

I have had Mac-n-cheese in the house for somtime and it always turns out crumby after time. I was at Sams this week and found canned Mac. Seems like the way to go but prompted another question - cheese storage.

I've tried the Chef Boyardee canned macaroni and cheese, and found it fairly nasty. Fortunately, I only bought two cans (@ $0.85 each), so I didn't waste a bunch of money stocking up on what I call "Donner Party food" (if it's a choice between the above-mentioned Chef Boyardee canned macaroni and cheese and anthropophagy, I'll tighten my belt and put off the choice for as long as possible ). The moral of the story, of course, is to taste-test before stocking up on LTS food.

If your LTS foods are primarily aimed at short-term emergencies, such that you're not deterred by the costs of freeze-dried backpacker meals, I've taste-tested the 480-calorie Enertia Three Cheese Mac from TrailFoods.com. It was pretty good, though I'd probably opt either to add the TVP "ham" bits in with the pasta (for extra rehydration time) or to save them to add flavor to some other meal. At an MSRP of $4.99 (I bought mine at Tucson's Summit Hut for $4.95), it's a reasonable deal for a solo diner. One flaw with Enertia meals is that they tend to come with multiple sub-packs inside the main package, which can be messy when adding the sauce packet to the mostly-rehydrated pasta in the main package. Meanwhile, Mountain House offers a 470-calorie macaroni & cheese entree, with an MSRP of $6.40 (available at Sportsman's Warehouse for $5.99).

OTOH, if you're looking to stock up for the long term, freeze-dried meals are not cost-effective. I've found that "deluxe" mac-and-cheese boxed meals (the kind with a foil packet of cheese sauce, instead of powdered cheese sauce) seem to work pretty well. Just be sure to knead the cheese sauce packet before adding it to the macaroni (I learned this lesson from MRE cheese packets).

WRT storing Velveeta, it has a labeled shelf life at room temperature of about six months; you could probably stretch that considerably through some combination of refrigeration and choosing not to hold Kraft Foods liable for your eating Velveeta after its labeled shelf life date. Jerry has some additional insight on cheese storage, as posted above.

American parachutists...devils in baggy pants...are less than 100 meters from my outpost line. I can't sleep at night; they pop up from nowhere and we never know when or how they will strike next. Seems like the black-hearted devils are everywhere....

My mac-n-cheese plans involve several 5g buckets of elbow macaroni (O2sorbers) and a few cases of sealed packet or can freeze dried cheese or cheese sauce powder. Add in dried milk, dehydrated onions and other spices, and you're good to go. I'm figuring casseroles in my solar oven, mostly, as that's the cheapest, easiest way to cook something like mac-n-cheese.

But I could do it on a stove of some sort as well. (I've got Coleman stoves and ovens stashed).

If you want to try a different twist, you know, some folks out there are canning their own cheese, although it hasnt been approved by the Great Canning Gods....I think we might have a post on that in the canning section...and my hero from Backwoods home magazine, Jackie Clay does it....And I'll tell you this, it make wonderfull mac and cheese! But I wont tell you how i know...hahahahaha!

I've got a herd of goats residing a few blocks from my house. Now all I need are some goat cheese recipes - recipes that start with "First, milk a goat (and here's how).

here's how; immobilize the goat in a comfortable position for the goat, wash udder/nipple area or wipe with clean moist toweling of choice, rest container on something stable at height so nipple is slightly higher than edge of container, capture upper part of nipple between thumb and forefinger nexus then curl fingers in to squeeze firmly but gently against palm of hand starting with index finger and then other fingers ending with pinkie finger. recommend that you work one nipple for several squeezes then switch to other nipple several times. Other hand is used to stabilize container unless you are sure goat will not kick the container over for you. Will let someone else tell you about converting to cheese as I think themilk is more useful as is.

I know this topic is old, but I just happened to come across it. I was at WSU earlier this year doing my Master Food Preserver class. We were right next door to the Creamery. Most of us ended up going to Ferdinand's Ice Cream Shoppe for our breaks. (Good thing there were a lot of stairs to work off the calories!) The cheese is processed in the same building & I watched them work. Anyway, the cheese in the cans has to be refrigerated. It is not vacuum packed or sealed.

Red Feather brand is sealed & should last for several years. There may be other brands I don't know about.

I've tried the Chef Boyardee canned macaroni and cheese, and found it fairly nasty.

<<snip>>

If your LTS foods are primarily aimed at short-term emergencies, such that you're not deterred by the costs of freeze-dried backpacker meals, I've taste-tested the 480-calorie Enertia Three Cheese Mac from TrailFoods.com. It was pretty good, though I'd probably opt either to add the TVP "ham" bits in with the pasta (for extra rehydration time) or to save them to add flavor to some other meal. At an MSRP of $4.99 (I bought mine at Tucson's Summit Hut for $4.95), it's a reasonable deal for a solo diner. One flaw with Enertia meals is that they tend to come with multiple sub-packs inside the main package, which can be messy when adding the sauce packet to the mostly-rehydrated pasta in the main package. Meanwhile, Mountain House offers a 470-calorie macaroni & cheese entree, with an MSRP of $6.40 (available at Sportsman's Warehouse for $5.99).

<<snip>>

Since it's been nearly a year since I posted this, I figured I'd update things a bit.

Update the First: I still like the Enertia Pinnacle Pasta entree; in fact, that's what I had for lunch today. This part of my update is to mention that Enertia also offers a 480-calorie Three Cheese Mac single-serving entree. While I find it a bit bland (which can be addressed by the user adding desired flavorings), this entree has the advantage of including a ham-flavored TVP packet (for reasons I do not understand, the directions on the package state that adding the ham-flavored TVP should be the last step before eating the entree, thus precluding rehydration of the TVP packet). Fortunately, the TVP is packaged in a separate pouch, so the consumer can choose between adding it to the Three Cheese Mac entree or saving it for some other use.

Update the Second: I also recently taste-tested the Mountain House Macaroni and Cheese entree, and found it less-than-appealing in both texture (the macaroni was too soft, while the sauce was a bit grainy) and taste (much too bland). I suspect that adding a fast-food taco sauce packet would go far in addressing my second objection, while using a bit less water would help with my first objection.

Finally, I have some "deluxe" mac-and-cheese boxes of various brands on hand that have passed their "best-by" dates; I plan to taste-test a couple of those over the next few weeks. It wouldn't surprise me to find that they end up as the best-tasting of the bunch.

American parachutists...devils in baggy pants...are less than 100 meters from my outpost line. I can't sleep at night; they pop up from nowhere and we never know when or how they will strike next. Seems like the black-hearted devils are everywhere....